Where art, design & fashion are totally the same thing.

Wedding: The Textiles

You may or may not know that the real purpose of our trip to Hong Kong was to purchase some of our wedding stuff. Unlike America where things are dramatically cheaper, lots of things in Australia are comparatively more expensive. So when it comes to wedding, the budget can get out of hand so very quickly; and who doesn’t want to save money if they have the chance????

So you know how most wedding planners / blogs tell you to pick that one thing as the priority and cheap out on other things? Well, we decided to let that one thing be the venue & catering. Okay that’s kinda two, but like many venues in Sydney, MCA has their own caterers that you MUST use.

That literally means I cheaped out on the wedding dress. I was planning to order one of those cheap dresses from Ebay, but my mother who happens to be a tailor just could not let her only daughter get married in a $250 wedding dress (Yes, that is my real budget for my wedding dress) made in god knows where. So, she kindly volunteered to make my dress.

Apart from that, I’ve also decided to make my own bouquet. While some people might find that daunting, after actually trying to make one on my own, I’ve realised just how simple it is. So, you need ribbons for the bouquets right???

Once I got to Hong Kong, a friend recommend for me to go to Sham Shui Po in Hong Kong. Ladies, it’s textile HEAVEN.

Before I move on to tell you how MUCH fabric they have, let me give you a heads up: There is an electronics market RIGHT NEXT TO the fabric shops.

So don’t feel guilty in dragging your man to Sham Shui Po with you, he can wonder around for a good hour or two. Alright, let’s move on!

First, get to Sham Shui Po station. The district that sells all the fabrics and beads have been highlighted in red.

Directions: Exit C2 of Sham Shui Po station. As soon as you get out of the station, you’re pretty much standing on the first cross street with market stalls (feel free to drop off your man at this point) and it looks like this:

Continue onto the next cross street which is Yu Chau Street. Turn left onto Yu Chau Street and just keep walking until you see this:

And this:

So here is what they offer in this district: fabrics, buttons, ribbons and more.

You know who would love this place? Martha Stewart. No no, not just her. Competitors on “Fashion Star” would love this place. I seriously feel like buying beads / crystals so I can make sh*t that I’ve never wanted like this Kiwi here:

I was after fabric for my wedding dress and I knew what type of fabric I wanted, which made the process that little bit easier. Mainly because these fabric stores do specialise in different fabrics. Some specialises in lace type fabric like these:

Other stores sold sequins:

So the store I went to is called Kam Woo Piece Goods Ltd and it’s on 136B Yu Chau Street. They had a satin and/or silk looking fabrics in a range of colours that was exactly what I was after. I found what I wanted rather quickly, in fact the two ladies seated inside was super helpful, only they speak in Cantonese or Mandarin. Actually, most of them only speak in those two dialects; so if you only speak English just make sure Google Translate is readily available.

Now, the prices depend on the amount you purchase and obviously the type of fabric you choose; but just to give you an idea, the top fabric costs HK$24 per yard (For those you guys who uses the metric system, that equates to 91cm).

The bottom fabric costs HK$21 per yard, which is seriously so very cheap in comparison to the fabrics in Sydney.

It was a great recommendation by my friend and I do feel unusually inspired after going to these stores. If you have no idea what you want and just want to browse, then this trip will be looonnnnggggg; but if you know what you’re looking for, you’ll figure out what types shops you need to go into pretty quickly.

In my next wedding chapter, I’ll be showing you my fiance’s tailor made suit.